Bali, Indonesia; a travel wardrobe

13/07/2024 9:23 am \ 3 Comments \

Well! it’s taken me an awfully long time to get around to this!  several years in fact… I’m a little hazy now as to why I never posted this draft post before but well, I didn’t…. however, as mentioned it in my previous post I really do enjoy reflecting on my travel wardrobes so decided to finally finish this one up too…

Time away:  8 days

Where to:  Bali, Indonesia

Season:  May, which is early dry season. Meaning hot, and quite humid by our standards

Expected activities:  attending the wedding of our friends L & L, a couple of fancy dinners, and the rest of it beachwalking, exploring and lolling about the pool

Colour scheme: not really relevant, I just went with my most lightweight and breeziest of summer dresses!

What I packed:

7 dresses (inc 1 fancy for the wedding), 2 skirt and top sets (inc 1 fancy for other dinners), 2 hats, 3 pairs sandals (inc 1 fancy for the evenings), one beach coverup and one bikini.  I made everything, including my shoes! except for the turquoise sandals worn to our friends’ wedding

(see below; from top to bottom, left to right.. all are linked to the original blog post)

silk dress, turquoise sandals

white hat, polka dot dress, white sandals

blue dress, white hat, red sandals

floral dress, khaki hat, red sandals

yellow top, ‘map’ skirt, white hat, white sandals

white hat, white coverup, pink bikini (not seen)

lace top and skirt, white sandals

Marimekko dress, white hat, white sandals

turquoise dress, white hat, red sandals

(worn on plane) brown dress, red cardigan, white scarf, white sandals

I cannot post a layout of my pieces this time since a few, namely the turquoise dress, the bikini, and the yellow top, are no longer in my wardrobe and I just felt it would be unsatisfactorily incomplete.  Anyway, the outfit pictures should give a good idea!

My daily outfits:

Thoughts;  it seems like a lot for an 8 day holiday but it’s really not!  Bali is hot and very humid and honestly, your outfit is usually a sweaty mess by the end of the day! so it’s a really good idea to plan a separate dress for each day.  Each outfit I packed was very light and airy and worked perfectly for the temperatures.  Hats were also an absolute necessity.

Of course I wore my bathers every day for swimming in our little private pool (pic 6 above), and got dressed properly for leaving the hotel room, even walking the beach right out front.  Bali is conservative and even though you do see tourists walking around with not much on, it’s considered quite disrespectful to do this.  I had my little cardigan and scarf (last picture) for the plane, because the plane is always cold! however I had no need of these items in Bali.

The last time we had been to Bali was for our own honeymoon, a looooong time ago now! and so I made the lace top and skirt (pic 7) to celebrate.  I wore this to a few special dinners, and for our friends’ wedding I wore the silk dress in pic 1.  It was really nice to have lots of special occasions actually! all in all, a totally lovely holiday and we had a great time, soaking up the sun and enjoying the last little bit of heat before returning to a fast approaching winter back here in Perth.

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Balinese sarong-style “alberthe” dress

07/07/2024 2:27 pm \ 12 Comments \

I made a new dress, possibly the last summer sundress before our cold winter sets in for real… I was very fortunate to have a warmish enough day recently in which I could wear it to the beach and take photos of it!  although it was cold enough that I couldn’t bring myself to take off my little white Tshirt from underneath.  I used a new pattern; the Fibremood Alberthe, and a sarong/piece of fabric that I bought in Indonesia back in 2018, when we went there to attend a friend’s wedding.  I posted about my travel wardrobe back … whoops, and wow, I’ve just realised I never posted about that travel wardrobe at all.  I wonder if I should gather together some pictures and write about it?!

The pattern can be made as either a little top or a dress… I wanted to use the border at the bottom of the dress, so the pattern pieces were laid down on the cross, and made the dress version as long as I was able to cut it.  Actually, it’s supposed to be a much longer dress, like ankle length; however I was pretty happy that my pieces fitted perfectly on my fabric, albeit shorter; with almost no leftovers at all.  My aim with sewing nowadays is for a few key outcomes, namely:

  1. to use fabric already in the stash
  2. cutting the pattern out with as few leftovers as possible
  3. to also use all haberdashery, like buttons, zips, elastic etc etc from stash as much as possible too.

So far this year I’ve succeeded in just about all of these endeavours, which has certainly made me really happy… at least enough to assuage my occasional desires to violate outcome number 1, and indulge in buying new fabric.  Yes, I still have such desires!  I’m only human!

Anyway, that’s neither here not there right now… although I just wanted to mention it again to reaffirm that it’s still an ongoing thing.

The Alberthe is quite an interesting pattern, with an asymmetric long front fold providing width to the dress.  It’s supposed to have a zip in the side seam, but I tested how it went over my head first and was happy to realise I could slip it on easily without the need for a zip.  The back is a plainish, regular sundress style, with wide straps stitched in between the dress and a facing.

It has lovely deep pockets which is nice, although I certainly would have added them myself even if it didn’t!  I didn’t hem it, which sounds lazy, but I wanted to retain the border as much as possible.  After photographing it, I have second thoughts about this decision.  It does look a little unfinished, to be honest.  I may or may not go back before next summer and give it a narrow hem, we’ll see.

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2 seok (aka knitting bts stuff)

30/06/2024 1:10 pm \ 4 Comments \

Please say hi to 2 Seoks! aka my knitting project for June.

Hehe, these are actually pretty hilarious; well, to me at least! but I probably should explain why;

so as mentioned previously I am a fan of BTS, and two of the members have the name Seok… pronounced “sock”.  Namely Kim Seokjin and Jung Hoseok.  In the fandom they are sometimes referred to collectively as 2 seok… anyway obviously I could not resist such a challenge!  2 Seok … as 2 socks!! haha, I’m giggling a little even now.  #nevergetsold #ohboyineedalife

I designed them myself because there is, as yet, no knitting pattern for 2 seok socks… maybe I should write up this pattern and post it myself?!  Anyway, I had in my, still very large, wool stash a ball of very fine gauge, pale pink yarn.  I would have preferred white, or even pale purple for this project, but anyway, pink it was and so pink I had to use.  I sketched out some pictures taken from online, some I thought were representative of Jin and Hobi, and made them into knitting charts.

 

I’ve momentarily lost my Hobi chart, but here is my Jin one… funnily enough, when I was knitting these I actually thought the Hobi one a better knitting design and the Jin one wasn’t going to turn out as well, but now they’re finished I feel like the Jin one turned out better.

I embroidered the designs in a purple-y pink yarn, leftover from these socks, and to introduce some sort of continuity to the socks, used the same yarn for the toe and heel sections.  This is also a good idea, because it is a proper sock yarn, whereas the yarn I used for the body of the socks is really fine and probably not up to the wear and tear you need in these areas.

Fun fact; I actually started these socks back in May of LAST year, and only picked them up again this month.  I know, I know.  I think I no longer have any current projects on needles still, but I still have that big stash to go through.  What to make next?!  Don’t worry, I have plenty of plans!

oh, by the way: I took a picture of Theo wearing the cardigan I made for him back in February… I’ll go back and put this picture in its proper post, but for now, ta da!  It gives my much joy to see him wearing it!

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another twisted collar shirt

07/06/2024 8:03 am \ 3 Comments \

I made another unusual little shirt … this one is similar to the other, cotton one that I made just recently but does have some key differences.

I used a length of beautiful snowy white linen from the Linen Shack … very fine and lightly crisp, almost floaty, and it was just as lovely to work with as the dusky pink linen I used for another recently made shirt…  Honestly is there anything nicer to wear than a crisp and fresh linen shirt?  It’s one of my favourite things to have and wear and all my white linen shirts get worn to death.   I mean, a white top goes with absolutely everything so although one might feel like it’s a bit predictable it is also undoubtably indispensable.  Personally, I absolutely must have at least one white shirt in my wardrobe at any time and particularly a linen one for summer!

This one has many details that you’d expect for a classic button-up shirt with collar, collar stand, and cuffed sleeves; except it’s not classic at all because of the off-set nature of the collar.  I’m really enjoying exploring this idea for a new pattern and haven’t finished experimenting yet!

For this one, I used tortoiseshell coloured buttons which I think is a nice contrast to the white.  These were long ago harvested from off an old business shirt of Craig’s.  Galica commented on my previous post about considering just one pocket so I decided to give this a go.  I went for a double-topstitched arrow headed pocket and pocket flap with identical profile.  This blouse has topstitched seams throughout for a classic casual shirt look, which I really like.

I cut the neckline of this shirt quite a lot wider from the cotton sample I made recently, so it needed an obviously different collar and collar stand.  This also took me quite a bit of time to finesse… and I haven’t quite settled on which one I like better!  The hemline is longer on this one too, only reason being that I had a tad more of this fabric than I did of the cotton!  I do really like the gently curving hemline.  In my opinion it’s a really nice shape and I’m very pleased with it. 🙂

I’m wearing the shirt here with my blue Closet Core patterns Sasha trousers.  By the way, I must apologise for the funny colouring in these photos… I had to substantially adjust the colour, which must be the primary cardinal sin when blogging about and/or illustrating clothes!  However I took my beach photos here at about sunset and the natural light was a quite strong and definitely misleading pink/orange glow.  I just wanted my new, beautifully white shirt to actually look white!

The Linen Shack white linen can be found here

(not an affiliated link)

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some odds and ends

05/06/2024 12:45 pm \ 1 Comment \

Just recently I took part in me-made May again, and had a month of taking my own photos once more.  It feels funny to go back to this, since I’ve completely got out of the habit of taking daily photos, but I do enjoy joining in with me-made May.  It helps me to take stock of the items in my wardrobe that I really like and those that I don’t! and also identify any gaps in my wardrobe…

So these are my daily outfits for the month… there are 32 outfits for 31 days because we had one evening out for my sister-in-law’s birthday party for which I wore a separate outfit from during the day (pic5).  I made every item of clothing I’m wearing in every outfit, except for my black hiking boots and white sandshoes.  I did make the sandals in pic14 though!

Thoughts; (warning; skip this bit if you find wardrobe analysis boring!). I liked all my outfits although there are 1-2 things I pinpointed as being shabby and maybe not really up for public consumption any more (overdyed blue dress and the tomato cardigan from picture 1).  I also resurrected a few things from storage to wear again, and was reminded how much I love them really.  (chambray top from pic26, overdyed dress from pic12, jeans from pic 25, jeans from pic32, the shirt I made for Craig in pic16). Surprisingly (for me) I hated nothing, which is good, and makes me think I might need to retire those things I chose NOT to wear during the month!  I conscientiously tried to wear something different every day and only discovered that I’d doubled up on a few things after the event.  I wore my pink Pinjarra cardigan twice (pics 10 & 23) and also my little raspberry jacket twice (pics 9 & 25), and my brown knitted cardigan three times (pics 7, 13 & 24).  For the last few years I’d got into the habit of not wearing jeans very often since I became convinced that I look terrible in them.  However, lately I’ve found to my surprise that I don’t mind how they look on me.  So, I’m planning to make a new pair of jeans, surprise surprise!  Wardrobe gaps: well, sorry to sound like a broken record, however as old pocket-less items die they are only going to be replaced with pocket-equipped items!  This is absolutely not negotiable.

In the end, me-made May is a bit biased in that I don’t get to wear my truly summery things nor my truly wintery things either.  It’s all the middle ground, trans-seasonal things that suit middle ground temperatures.  I mean, this is fine; because the majority of my wardrobe is obviously middle range things weather-wise… however sometimes I think I should do this sort of analysis privately for a hot month and a cold month too.

I also kept a pictorial record of my purple hair wash too! just for fun. :). The colour was quite intense to start with and had washed out to a shade I REALLY love after 2-3 washes.  I took the 6th picture today, the colour is quite subtle now, but it still noticeable, I think.  In a good way!  However, this is a lesson to me that if I ever use a purple colour wash again to just use maybe a third of the tube, at most!

I made something else last month; a new pair of winter jammies…  I used the Closet Core pattern that is my namesake of course, the Carolyn pyjamas for the bottoms.  The top is vaguely similar to my usual pattern Burda 10/2009; 121 that I’ve used for winter pj tops in the past, but I’ve somehow managed to lose the pattern I’d traced out.  I didn’t feel like re-tracing it, so instead I just laid down last year’s top and traced around the outside, haha.  I added oversized pockets to the front, because I always need pockets.

I had to buy new fabric thus breaking my no-buy rule… but it was a necessary sin since I had no flannelette in my possession!  I bought as little as I dared and managed to use the entire amount, so I’m forgiving myself!  The bunny print cotton flannelette is of course from Spotlight, and I bought a small amount of white to give some contrast because I always like a bit of contrast.  To be honest, I searched and searched for some garishly cotton candy coloured unicorn print flannelette which would have been my absolute ideal… and was extremely disappointed to find nothing like that.  These sweet blush-pink bunnies are reasonably cute enough so they will do.  For now!

In closing; a favourite moment from me-made May was the day when Cassie, Theo, Gilbert and I visited the Subiaco Flower festival together… we had such a lovely afternoon!

(photo taken by a kind lady passing by)

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purple cardigan

31/05/2024 8:42 pm \ Leave a Comment \

I’ve knitted a new cardigan!

This is cardigan A  from the book Japanese Knitting, by Michiyo, translated by Gayle Roehm.  The yarn is Jansen by Mod Vera, colour 80421344, it’s a yarn made for Spotlight which is where I bought it of course.  Not the most wonderful yarn in the world but I bought it anticipating the boredom of possible lockdowns during the early days of Covid.  It was a bit mohair-y,  by which I mean that it stuck to itself and had such a degree of fluffiness the needle had trouble getting between the stitches sometimes.

So yes, I said “new” above, but actually this is a project whose beginnings hark back to 4 long years ago…  I bought the yarn in a hurry and then began quite slowly.  I got the back and one front knitted then the cardigan lay undisturbed for a few years.   Yes, I’m so ashamed!  Anyway, progress was painfully sporadic before I picked it up again this month for May’s knitting project.  I haven’t forgotten my pledge to complete a project a month!  although it is going to be a more difficult task than I first thought.  If I hadn’t already knitted a fair chunk of this over the last few years it’s doubtful I would have been able to finish it.  As it was I was knitting like a maniac for the last week or so.

My new purple cardigan is thick and warm and I feel extremely cosy in it.  It has no closure so I’m going to have to pin it closed if I don’t want it hanging open, but that’s ok.  I like it open too.  I realised I forgot to take a photo of the back but it’s other plain, just stocking stitch.  All the interest is in those lovely, richly patterned sleeves.

I’m extremely happy to get this bulky project out of my knitting basket and into the wardrobe!  This was a good ten balls worth of wool, which is a substantial reduction of the stash.  It was a lot of work, but I’m so happy!!

I’m wearing it today with my Closet Core patterns Ginger jeans, and an old white tee that was an adaption of the Closet Core Nettie.

Aaaaand, apropos of nothing really, but I also have to confess that I’ve decided that I really do hate April’s project and am probably going to rework that one.  Hmmm.  How am I going to reduce the stash if I keep making such self-defeating decisions?!

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a weird new top

24/05/2024 12:57 pm \ 7 Comments \

Hello!  I’ve made a new shirt/top; it’s a little weird but it’s an idea I’ve had in my head for a long time and have been quietly working on realising it.  I’ve actually been making this shirt for over a month! it’s still not quite there but this iteration has helped me to firm up the idea even further, so it’s all good!  This will most likely become a new sewing pattern for our Carolyn & Cassie oevre…

I used a white slubby cotton that has been in my stash for ages, awaiting a good project.  I really love this stuff and have made lots of things using it in various colour ways over the years.  It’s originally from Fabulous Fabrics and I’m pretty happy that they still have it available in lots of colours to this day.

I drew up the design myself and it still needs a little work but I’m fairly happy so far.  My idea is to have a shirt with the traditional collar, collar stand and opening button placket to be offset over the shoulder.  I really like how this part of it turned out!  I made the sleeves not quite full length, and there is a short, bias bound slit opening and traditional cuff.  This may or may not change as time goes on, I’m not 100% sold on this.  I added two patch breast pockets to the front because it all looked a little bare without them, but the pocket situation is still a work in progress too.  Reset assured there will be pockets in some form or another though!  Most of my time has been in perfecting the collar and collar stand and I’m very happy with how this bit looks.  Although I forgot to button it all the way up while taking my photos here it’s still very comfortable fully buttoned up.  Hurrah!

I stitched on black buttons for a contrasting look; also from stash and originally from Spotlight probably.  These don’t really match each other but they’re all black and two-holed, and the same size so you wouldn’t really notice the difference without knowing.

I made the hem gently curved and love how this looks.

Watch this space!

I’m wearing today for me-made May here with my beloved Closet Core Morgan jeans and raspberry silk jacket made years ago using V 2894…

You can also see this jacket worn in 6 different ways in this post here… and wow, I’ve just reminded myself how long it’s been since I did something like that!  It was actually fun, maybe I should do one again!

Oh, and my daughter in law Kelly kindly sent me a few pictures of Arthur wearing his new cardigan, that I finished at the end of March.  He looks so cute!  In his words “it’s beautiful, like a rainbow”.  Words to totally warm the cockles of his granny’s heart.  What a sweetie!

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dusky pink linen shirt

18/05/2024 10:25 am \ 4 Comments \

Hello!  I’ve been sewing again lately …

I just finished a button-up shirt using this beautiful dusky pink linen that I received from the Linen Shack.  The linen is very fine and light, and was absolutely beautiful to work with.  Aah, I just love sewing with linen.  Also, I’m so into pink right now it’s not even funny!  This dusky pink colour is lovely, a gentle and subtle pink with just a hint of lilac about it.  Making me nostalgic for the cherry blossoms from a few weeks ago, sigh… ahh, take me back, please…

I didn’t have pink thread in my stash and instead of going for something like ivory or white as per my habit, I chose a pale green.  Actually the contrast is very subtle and you really have to get up close to notice!  The white buttons are also from stash… they are originally from Spotlight.  I bought these in both white and black originally, and I always use them upside down because the back side is so much prettier; a lovely shiny smooth slightly rounded profile.  The front side is matte, and has a raised serrated lip; and it’ not so visually appealing to me.  I think I kind of bought them in shirt-button desperation once upon a time, back in the day, and then the discovery that the back side was actually really pretty was totally serendipitous!

I partially used a really old Burda pattern, from the 8/2009 magazine.  This might sound a little confusing but bear with me; the pattern/s are numbered from 129-132, with each one being variations on the same basic block, and my version here is kind of a fourth variation!

Actually, I also cut out some breast pockets but haven’t added them yet… I even saved enough green thread so everything matches!  I’m thinking of doing some embroidery on a pocket, but wanted to post these pictures how it looks now…

I’m wearing it in these pictures here with a self-designed skirt made from my parents’ curtain leftovers, and a hat made using Vogue 8844 and corduroy from old jeans…

Did you notice anything about the hatless picture above??

OK, now don’t be shocked… but I whimsically decided to put a purple wash through my hair this morning.  I don’t know what I was thinking, maybe that I’d get a light lilac tinge to my hair or something like that since my own hair colour is still quite strong. .. I was quite surprised that the purple turned out a lot stronger than I imagined!  Eeek!  I’m kinda into it, but also a little … taken aback!  At least it’s only going to last for a few weeks!

The Linen Shack dusky pink linen can be found here 

(not an affiliated link)

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